Thursday, December 30, 2010

So .... To those nights we stayed in and cooked instead of dining out at some expensive resaurant ..... To those movies we watched on tv instead of at the cinema ..... To those weekends spent at Bunnings instead of Supre ..... To those nights we stayed in and made our own cocktails instead of paying the barman to make them ..... This is what we've managed to accomplished with some hard work, loud music, chilled beers and wine and the passion and enthusiasm of wanting to turn our first house into a home.

I only started my blog in May 2010 when the Master Bedroom was finished so I don't have many posts for those projects, but I do have a page for each room that we've completed so far so to see all the juicy BEFORE and AFTER photos you can click on the pages of rooms on the right hand side of my blog. I'd love to hear any comments or advice from you to know you stopped by :)

You can check out the other many projects carried out by fellow talented bloggers here. I can just imagine that the 2011 list is going to be even longer as we are all inspired and energised to get going on next years projects as soon as the clock strikes midnight!

Wednesday, December 29, 2010

For those that don't know who Poh is, she was the runner up in last year's Masterchef and has her own cooking show.

Poh cooks alongside other famous chefs and the book is full of her own and their recipes, her cute stories and humour and colourful illustrations and pictures. I just adore her mix match of tea sets and bowls too. Definitely a book for the girls in the kitchen!

I made the paella last night as I'm on a mission to find the perfect paella like the many we tasted on our Spanish holiday.

This would be a great dish to make with friends coming over, just put the pan on the table and everyone dishes out their own, together with a glass of Spanish red wine you'll have yourself a merry little evening in!

Immerse the saffron in a couple of tablespoons of boiling water for five minutes.

Heat the oil in a large frying pan over medium heat and partly cook the chirozo for a few minutes. Add the chicken and cook for 3-4 minutes, or until browned. It doesn't need to be cooked right through at this stage. Add the onion, capsicum, garlic, tomatoes, paprika and bay leaf and cook for 2-3 minutes.

Add the rice and stir for a couple of minutes. Pour in the stock and saffron liquid (discard the saffron strands) and add enough water to cover the rice by 1cm. Cover with foil, reduce the heat to low and simmer for 15 minutes, or until the liquid is almost absorbed.

Meanwhile rinse and drain the prawns in cold water. Scrub and de-beard the mussels in cold water, and discard any that have opened or are cracked.

Dot the prawns, mussels and fish over the rice mixture. The frozen peas may be added at this time. Cook for a further 10 minutes, or until the seafood is just cooked. Discard any mussels that have not opened.

PS: You need to use a large flat based pan so it cooks evenly, a frying pan works fine.

PPS: Once you remove the foil, don't stir it again, as a good paella should develop a crust on the bottom.

PPPS: This recipe would be delicious without the seafood, the chirozo and chicken are filling enough as the dish should be all about the rice.

PPPPS: For more colour be as generous as you can afford with the saffron.

Monday, December 27, 2010

Phew there goes Christmas for another year! Hope everyone had a fantastic day with family, loved ones and mates.

I love this time of year when everyone begins to unwind and relax, you forget what day it is, party season kicks in, the alarm clock is off and the hardest questions of the day are .... Should we hit the sales? and What to do for New Years?

Its been sweltering hot here and its tipped to top 40 degress today so the best thing to do is relax in the air onditioning, play computer games, read magazines and sip on a refreshing bacardi and lemonade. Yes it's good to be on holidays!

Wednesday, December 22, 2010

I made my own Christmas Cards again this year, it's a tradition now I've kept it up 2 years running so there's no going back now!

I went a bit crazy scouting out the $2 shop and Spotlight for stickers and embellishments there are just so many to choose from. I bought some sets of cards and envelopes as well as some mix-matched ones just to change it up a bit. I already have heaps of different papers and borders to use and now they're all organised in my lil craft drawers it was so easy to make them.

This year my creative girlfriends came over and made some cards too, lured by a dinner of beef and red wine casserole and the best creamy mash in the world!

This is my stash of festive cheer ... it did grow substantially since this photo but I was so excited to use it all I didn't manage to take another photo before I used it!

I must say I noticed a lot less cards fall into my mail box this year ......

Is it just me or is there a rapid decline in posting Christmas cards now? Could it be the higher postage fees or emails vs snail mail tirade?

If you're looking for discounted craft supplies check out Blitsy - if you join and make a first time purchase it would be awesome if you use my referral code HERE - you will get great discounts and I get a $10 reward to spend on my creative obsession so I can share more posts like this with you guys!

Monday, December 20, 2010

Sunday was a family day to catch up with my nanna, uncle, aunty, cousins and their kids for Christmas as we don’t usually get to see them on Christmas Day. We all met up for a picnic down on the foreshore with views over the Swan River. Unfortunately the weather turned in the afternoon and it starting spitting with rain as we were sitting out on the grass. But after such a hot and sweltering Saturday we didn't mind getting a bit wet and cooling off. The only thing we did mind was our wine getting watered down and our picnic dinner getting soggy! I'm still blaming the weather for my point and shoot looking a little gloomy. I'd really love a new camera (hint hint Santa!) to take more professional shots.

Besides that I had quite a girly weekend spending Friday & Saturday night out with my girlfriends. Went to my first Carols by Candlelight and my girlfriends showed up with treats in their eskies like vodka and cheesecake to share and it was a perfect summer night under the stars. Saturday my gorgeous gals curled my hair and did my makeup and we went out in our lil party dresses and danced the night away. Isn't it amazing you always feel a trillion times better when someone else pampers you and glams you up!

Monday, December 13, 2010

I kicked off my weekend with some cocktail research. My work is having a cocktail making competition as part of our Christmas Party and I've been given the best task ... tasting research! I tried a concoction of rasberries, sugar syrup, cranberry juice and gin. Then I tried one with scotch. Then I tried one with a bit more gin. I'm still to perfect the right flavour, I have the colour right but not happy with the taste yet (and I want us to win!) so need to do some more research this weekend. It's a hard job but someone's got to do it :)

It was a perfect start to a festive weekend which kicked off with sundowner drinks with girlfriends. Then Pete's work xmas party where we all camped out at the bosses house and made the most of the sparkling new pool and outdoor bar area, dj playing awesome dance music had us shakin a groove thang until the wee hours. It was a well earned break to have a weekend without renovating and just have some good ole fashioned fun instead.

Friday, December 10, 2010

During my bachelorette years a simple candelabra was my modern take on a Christmas Tree as I didn't see the point in having a Christmas Tree just for me and thought it was something special to get with someone special. So you can imagine how excited I was about Christmas last year because it was the first year living with Pete. I dragged him out to buy our very first tree, it was big and green, and got covered in lots of beautiful ornaments individually picked by yours truly. Yea I went a bit tinsel crazy and even bought decorations full price, didn't even wait for the sales that's so not like me!

Last year's tree

Had my crazy gorgeous family over for a Christmas Eve BBQ and swapping presents

This year its a lot different as our makeshift living room is in the dining room so theres nowhere for the tree to go. I'm not sure where the presents will go either still to figure that out. So this is the extent of our Christmas decor this year, still a bit festive without going overboard ...

Yea I know you have to squint to see it, so here's some close ups. And yes that is a cake stand turned ornament holder :o)﻿

Thursday, December 9, 2010

I worked out we have clocked up a total of 11 hours with 2 pairs of hands on the latest job. What on earth could take so long you ask? Filling in the gap between the floorboards thats what! Obsessed, yes maybe a little but whose going to have a perfectly smooth floor with no dust or dirt getting stuck down the cracks - we are!

We learnt from experience doing the last room that if you fill in the gap it keeps the dust out and makes sweeping easier as it’s a smooth surface. There’s nothing like experience. There’s also nothing like spending 11 hours in a small room filling holes. As you can imagine it’s a really fiddly job you need to push the filler in with your fingers and then let it set for about 10 minutes and then wipe it off. Thankfully the filler washes off easily with water otherwise we’d have poo colour stained hands. Well jarrah and walnut to be exact but either way not a good look!

With gap

Filling bit by bit

Gap be gone

﻿

We had to throw a bit of entertainment into it and turned it into a race, we’d line up and see who could get the most done before we ran out of filler. I won each and every time. WOOHOO! Yes I've been gloating shamelessly about it all week that I can actually do something better than the master DIY-er : )

Once the filling was done it was time to give the floorboards a light sand. Fitted out with knee pads, face mask and goggles Pete spent over 4 hours with a small handsander, going through a sanding pad about every 20 minutes until they were all smooth. The hallway had to get done as well as it joins on with the living room (including inside the hallway cupboards). Now its ready to be sealed with Tung Oil as the finishing touch, but that will be after the painting is done as we'll have to leave the floors to set for a few days without walking on them.

Its been dusty, fiddly, time consuming work for those precious floors I'm so glad we're done and now onto the next job ... drinking, shopping, PAINTING!

Monday, December 6, 2010

On Saturday we managed to squeeze in some back bending work around the house, a few games of lawn bowls with mates (and Pete came home with the winners trophy﻿ woohoo!) and a Birthday bash at my Mum and Dads place. This little fellow is a bandicoot and they're nocturnal which means when they come out at nighttime they are quite frequently the guest appearance at Mum and Dad's parties! They do a little scoot around the patio looking for leftover BBQ scraps, dodging the pool table and the squeals from people who've never seen one before. Then wait on the lawn for some bread to be thrown to them and go hide under the hanging pot plants to eat it. There are 2 of them that live around here, but ole mate was out solo tonight stuffing his face and enjoying a midnight feed.

Friday, December 3, 2010

I won this cookbook about 4 years ago and have flipped through it many a time drooling at all the glossy pages. I love to try new recipes which is probably my downfall because I try something once and if it doesn’t look like the picture or taste amazing I don’t try it again. What I should do is cook it twice and try to right my wrongs the second time around rather than giving up. So not to be tainted by my recent Death by Slow Cooker episode I got back in the kitchen and made this deliciously fresh and vibrant Chargrilled Lemon Grass Prawns with Vietnamese Salad.

Yes it involved using a mortar and pestle (if you haven’t tried it you’ll feel like an iron chef once you do!). Once the prawns were peeled and marinating in the fridge and the salad cut up ready, we had an hour to kick back and enjoy a wine and some spring rolls to whet the appetite. When ready cook the prawns, toss the dressing through the salad and serve with prawns on top and a wedge of lime. Save the rest of the lime (and some of that mint) for a Mojito as it would be a shame to have those two ingredients together and not make a cocktail afterwards like I did!

Chargrilled Lemon Grass Prawns with Vietnamese Salad

(Blue Ginger Cookbook by Les Huynh)

Serves 4 as Starter/2 as Main

Marinade

2 garlic cloves, peeled

3 lemon grass stems (white part only), finely chopped

4 tbs peanut oil

1 tbs oyster sauce

1 tsp fish sauce

12 large raw prawns, peeled and deveined

Dressing

2 garlic cloves, peeled

1 long red chilli, deseeded and chopped

2 tbs caster sugar

3 tbs fish sauce

2 tbs lime juice

2 tbs rice vinegar

Salad

225 g (3 cups) shredded white cabbage

90g (1 cup) finely julienned carrots

1 lebanese (short) cucumber, thinly sliced into long ribbons

2 large handfuls Vietnamese mint leaves

2 large handfuls coriander leaves

80g (1/2 cup) finely sliced onion

4 tbs roughly chopped roasted peanuts

2 tbs fried shallots

To serve
Llime halves

To make the marinade, use a mortar and pestle to pound the garlic, lemon grass and a pinch of salt into a paste. Work in the rest of the ingredients and pinch of white pepper. Scoop the dressing into a non-metallic bowl with the prawns. Coat the prawns well, then marinade in the refrigerator for at least 1 hour.

Remove the prawns from the marinade. Heat a char-grill pan or bbq hotplate over medium-high heat, then cook the prawns for 3-4 minutes on each side, or until cooked.

To make the dressing, use a mortar and pestle to pound the garlic and chilli together. Work in the sugar, then stir in the fish sauce, lime juice, rice vinegar and 2 tablespoons water, pounding until the sugar dissolves.

To make the salad, gently toss all the ingredients together in a large bowl. Toss with enough of the dressing to moisten the salad.

To serve, divide the salad among plates, then sit half the prawns on top. Drizzle a little more of the dressing over the prawns. Add a lime half on the side.

PS: If you don’t have a m&p you can chop all of the ingredients into a paste using a small food processor

PPS: This is a really punchy salad dressing very limey so if you want it a bit softer use less lime juice. The fresh mint and coriander make a beautiful aroma and really lift the salad and make it something special

PPPS: It says to leave the prawn head and tail on but I didn’t do this, there’s nothing worse than getting shell in your mouth if you ask me!

PPPPS: If making this for a main I'd suggest 6-10 prawns per person is much more satisfying.

Tuesday, November 30, 2010

This morning our local radio station Nova interviewed the super sexy Mr Nate Berkus. He definitely has a face for TV, not radio!

There’s a bit of Oprah hype going on here with her visit to Oz next month. Sadly only Sydney will get to host her shows but I’m sure they’ll broadcast it live for the rest of Oz to watch (they bloody better!).

So back to Nate, he’s a fantastic designer who has his own TV show and next month it will start airing on our pay TV network. Woo hoo! If ever there was a reason to sign up for Foxtel this is it with all those lifestyle channels I’ll be in 7th heaven. A justified reward once we get the living room finished me thinks, so I better get back to sanding those walls ...

Monday, November 29, 2010

On Saturdays hot and sunny afternoon I met up with a friend at the Beaufort Street Festival﻿ where the usually trendy Beaufort Street had quirky stalls set up in front of the shops and most side streets blocked off so people could stroll around at leasure. The photo above is one of the many unusual displays we walked past, a Hair and Beauty salon with the hairdressing dolls on poles in the front garden. Freaky fashion hey. To get out of the heat we kicked back in an outside bar area and listenen to some live summertime tunes, waiting for them to make more sangria punch which was getting drunk quicker than they could make it! I had my photo taken by a photographer as part of their 60 photos in 60 minutes project and will appear in the newspaper in a few weeks time. There was a old school telephone and a banana involved, that's all I'm going to say!

Hope everyone had a great weekend, I'm off to check out some of your Point and Shoots!

Thursday, November 25, 2010

With the living room underway we’ve been couch shopping. Yea yea I know we should be painting but shopping is way more fun.

We definately want classic stylish black leather and we're keen for a modular with a chaise to lay on similar to this one.

Now to figure out what will go with it.

LOOK 1 - Either a 2/3 seater in matching black leather for under the window and a funky chair for the corner like these

Or

LOOK 2 - A pair of black leather armchairs for under the window with a little lamp table like these

I’m a bit worried too much leather will look like a set up for a bondage party! Plus all that black may look a bit 'heavy'. That's why I like the idea of the fabric chair to break it up but then it might look like I'm trying to cram too much seating in the room. Having just the 2 armchairs will look less crowded but then there'll be less seating. Hmmmmm decisions, decisions.

Monday, November 22, 2010

I was just pondering how I can be more involved in the blogger community when I stumbled upon Fat Mum Slims blog which then led me to the Point and Shoot game. I think it's a great idea to learn a little about what everyone has been up to and also share a bit about yourself too. So without further ado here's my first Point and Shoot

WHEN: Sunday, 21 November 2010 @ 4.37pm

WHERE: My friend Janita's house

These fresh farm eggs were laid by happy lil chickens free to peck around the yard and eat grass and insects. They've never had to live in a cage with fluro lights and to prove how content they are some of these eggs are even triple yokes! Reminds me of when I was young my parents had chickens on the farm and I use to collect the eggs after school each day. I never appreciated fresh farm eggs until I had to start buying them in the supermarket. I'm so glad I've still got friends in the country who'll save me a few dozen. Quiche for dinner tonight me thinks!

Sunday, November 21, 2010

Wayyyyyy back when I first started this blog I mentioned that I desperately wanted some curtains for the bedroom, the timber blinds we hung through the house look great but in the bedroom more of a blockout was needed if I was to get any kind of sleep in. Grumble.

The first problem was deciding what type of curtains. I liked the look of the silver eyelets and also figured if we were going to get curtains they be good quality block out to keep the sunlight out.We decided on white as we thought grey may clash with the grey walls and black would hide the bed and make the room closed. in. We looked everywhere until Curtain Wonderland a new store opened up its doors and at their opening sale we bought 3 packs of their white eyelet block out curtains for $70 each (usually $99).

The second problem was finding brackets for the rods, as mentioned many months ago we bought 2 chrome curtain rods at a bargain price because one was missing brackets and we thought it'd be easy pesy to find brackets and we were making a huge saving. Well we asked at every Textile Traders store, every curtain place we went to, and even Bunnings but they didn't have the size brackets we needed. In desperation I emailed Textile Traders asking if they could order some in for me and I was told that they had some spares they would post for me. It gets better. FREE. They arrived the very next day. You can't beat that for customer service.

Now they were finally ready to be hung up.

All my research tells me hang them high and wide but not too short that they are half way up the wall. As our windows are so big and ceilings so high we decided to bolt them to the window frame instead of the wall to give them maximum length to the skirting board. So the brackets were screwed in and measured with a string line and the cutest little level to make sure they were straight. Then the rods went up, they're retractable so you just pull them out until they're the right size, threaded the curtains on, screw the balls on the end and their done.

We all love a good before and after right? Well hows about a before, during, after and now!

BEFORE

DURING﻿

AFTER

NOW

What do you think?

They've made a massive difference to the room, really softened the all timber blinds look and made it much more flowy and romantic. Not to mention I just had The.Best.Sleep.In.Ever. Mission Accomplished.
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Saturday, November 20, 2010

We moved all the furniture out of the living room and dining room and either sold it or gave it to friends and then put the rest in storage. The only furniture that's going back into the living room is the tv cabinet and tv. I'm glad I kept my old sofa bed now, it's not very comfortable but it does fit perfectly in this small space.

There's a few benefits of being so close to the kitchen ...

I don't have to dash into the kitchen on the ad breaks to attend to whatevers bubbling on the stove because I can see the tv from where I'm cooking now. Pete's pretty stoked he can pretty much grab a beer from the fridge without getting off the couch. If you always see the bright side of any situation you'll get through it a lot easier!

Has anyone else had to turn another room into the living room while you renovated?

Wednesday, November 17, 2010

It was a present for my 30th from my parents and paired with some of the best cookbooks around, they still couldn't save me from these kitchen disasters. I can laugh about it now but after waiting for something to look for hours it's pretty disheartening when it turns out inedible, lumpy, pink or smelling like vinegar (read on and you'll know what I'm talking about!).

From the Kitchen Classics cook book I've had nothing but fails. The flavours are there but not the technique and mine looked nothing like the picture (don't you hate that!)

My slow cooked Creamy Tomato and Chicken Stew turned out a not so appealing shade of pink. Pink is fine for sweets aka strawberry icecream, but not for a main meal sauce. I was therefore exempt from cooking for the rest of the week. Fail

Next were the Italian Meatballs with Tomato Sauce and every time I peeped at them another meatball would fall apart and crumble before my eyes. If I wanted lumpy spaghetti I would’ve made it that way. Damn you meat balls. Fail

The Drunken Chicken on Rice smelt like I was bubbling up a new cleaning product when I accidentally used a cup of Rice Wine Vinegar instead of Chinese Rice Wine. Nothing could fix that vinegar smell and it ended up in the bin and a mercy dash to McDonalds was necessary. Fail

I've even tried those McCormick recipe bases which they sent me for free for buying the Slow Cooker.

These are meant to be foolproof, just add your meat and veg and the packet and turn it on and bam it cooks itself.

The Morrocan Lamb Casserole cooked itself down so much I came home to a dried out blackened mess. It was only eaten with the promise of double ice cream afterwards. Fail

On the plus side I've had some wins from this trusy Women's Weekly cookbook

I made this Chinese Chicken Hot Pot which came out so tender the meat fell off the bone when I lifted it out and was absolutely delicious.

The Chocolate Self Saucing Pudding turned out chocolately and springy like it was meant to and these Vanilla and Red Wine Poached Pears turned out pretty impressive as well served to friends for dinner.

So I don't know if it's the recipes I'm following, the products, or if I should just leave the Slow Cooker in the cupboard until next Winter when I have the courage to try again.

Has anyone else had any disasters with their Slow Cooker?

Do you have the perfect fail proof recipe you’d like to share with me (please do!)

Welcome to Jarrah Jungle, a blog about the adventures of renovating a 1960s house and turning it into a home. This is my place to share all things homely, DIY, decorating, recipes and entertaining. When I’m not renovating I write regular book reviews and travel musings. Thanks for stopping by!

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